ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

I am beginning to suspect that the time zone does not matter. I wake up at 0400.

In California, I wrote off the early awakening to being off on time zones. On the cruise, I happily blamed my back pain. Once back in Germany – well obviously my sleep disruption was a result of changing 9 hours of time zones again. Stopping in New York, obviously, I had no clue where I was or what was going on.

But here I am in Reno, once again wide awake at 0400 in the morning which happens to be significantly dark. Since we have free WiFi here at the Peppermill it seemed a good time to sort out a few photos and to let all of you know that I have not completely lost it (well mostly, but not completely…..)

Which means I have started to clear out the backlog of Alaska photos.

Today was spent running Kaffee Klatsches, Miriam spent the day being the coffee girl complete with tray and I completely collapsed at 2030, missing the Hugos and all the parties. The party girl managed to get to most of them, reported outcomes and got back while the buses were still running……

One of the key events at any Science-Fiction/Fantasy Convention is always the Costume Competition – aka – The Masquerade. Renovation’s hosted by the Folgio’s (Girl Genius for those of you who don’t recognize the names).

and yes, there is a definite resemblance to the comic characters

Contestants compete at Novices (really new at this and haven’t won any significant awards), Journeyman (done it before and done ok), and Master (the really scary people). Occasionally there will be an entry in the “Exhibition Only” category – meaning not in competition either because someone doesn’t want to be judged or they have entered the costume somewhere else (oh, yes, you can’t enter the same costume over and over again at different Cons. And trust me, someone will know). Judging is both on presentation (including how the costume appears from the audience) and workmanship (exactly what you would expect – details and finishing do count – the days of 2 hour glue-gun costumes are no more).

Prior to the start there were a number of incredibly funny short flicks – Haunted Icon among them. A spoof of all the idol shows – you can see them on You Tube here – Part One and Part Two.

Then there are the costumes (I have included only some)-

After the stage presentations there is a break while the workmanship judges do their thing. Which means something to keep the audience entertained – in this case a Con version of the British venerable radio program “Just a Minute.” A contestant is required to speak extemporaneously on a topic without repetition, pause, hesitation or wandering off-topic for one minute. The other contestants may challenge infractions. Successful challenges win points which can also be gained from being the speaker at the end of the 60 seconds or being incorrectly challenged. Let me just leave it with – you haven’t heard anything till you hear Seanan McGuire head into a discussion on deadly viruses, the worst thing about steampunk or call her mother up on stage to resolve a challenge when someone could not believe she wasn’t off topic.

Maus and I only made it through the first two rounds as we were exhausted. This also means we don’t know who won…..

According to the T-shirts at the convention booths – What happens when Goths meet brown?

You get Steampunk. The genre has gone from nothing to a major force in the Sci-Fi world even since World Con last year. Costumes abound, dances and tea dances are taking up a lot of time and mad scientists abound -

various mechanical steam helpers

and the workshop

The craze includes pseudo-Victorian costuming. It is a huge improvement over the Goth/Fairy attire of a few years ago. Black is worn, yes, but there is a wide range of palates as well. Corsets are worn, but they are not all black and dripping with pseudo gore (at least I hope the gore is faked). Bondage is out, aviator goggles and bowler hats are in.

And the amount of flesh hanging out exposed is significantly reduced.

The afternoon session included teaching

the instructors

(most dances most strongly resembled Contra-dancing) and were attended by a wide range of participants.

dad and daughter

not all were so young

I think a large part of the appeal is that it is more modern than Renfaire garb while leaving people free to change personas on a whim. The style lends itself easily to the not so young crowd (this particular group of Con goers has been steadily aging). The other thing that is quite appealing is that no one can judge what is “out of period.” Short of bikinis and carrying a magic fairy wand, just about anything goes.

Maus and I are moderately recovered from whatever food poisoning one of the fast food shops managed to contribute to our non-well being and we have been putting in time on Registration as well as Kaffee Klatsches. It is scary – I don’t recognize many of the authors anymore!

Given my tendency to try and save money while traveling (ok, I could save a lot more money if I did not go anywhere at all…..) it should not surprise you to learn that by the time I finally made the reservations for Reno the flight choices were what you might call interesting.

A round trip from New York to Reno and back – direct and no changes was more than $600/per person more expensive than taking a strange route (LGA to MPLS to Reno on the way out and Reno to Salt Lake City to JFK via red eye on the way back). The cost of the second run also included the hotel as a package; go figure. Putting everything we needed to be checked in one bag (when did US airlines start wanting to stuff the cabins and keep the holds empty anyway?) we were off.

Ignoring all the offers to delay, forget and otherwise get airline vouchers (no cash was offered)

Desert surrounding the city

downtown - which we will never see

cool what?

we made it to Reno on time and were given the opportunity to wait 45 mintes for luggage and another 35 for the hotel shuttle. Seemed like a good 1/3 of the plane was Con goers.

We will catch the shuttle bus pick up our badges and see about food before hitting the dealers room.

Sunday night is the traditional Hugo Awards night.

This year I really thought about it, then didn’t go. Yesterday and today I spent running various Kaffee Klatsches in rooms just about as far from the sign up table as it was possible to get. In rooms where there was no coffee. Facing crowds of people who kept giving me this blank look when I asked if they were signed up.

I am not stupid, I was sitting there yesterday, I know that I told them when and how to sign up. Sheesh! I am sure that it would occur to most people that many authors are popular. Popular enough that lots want to sit down and chat. That is why we run sign-ups and only let the first 10 on the list into the room.

Anyway, being the door dragon lets me see a lot of different authors without being in the way. I do not presume personal relationships with authors because I read their works or have met them before.

If you have not heard of Pat Cadigan (a Cyberpunk original), she is a lovely person. I had a whole long list of others that I was going to reference, but just run out of energy. Much better to have the note up than not.

One must maintain a sense of humor.

May I put in a plug for Neil Gaiman? Not only is he a fantastic writer but he is a sterling human being. The official Guest of Honor for this convention, he signed on long ago. He credits his minder (and she is wonderful) but it takes a mensch to faultlessly make all panels, signings, and presentations even when exhausted. He even took time one evening to have sushi with the teens. (yes, Ms Maus was there and thrilled). Believe me when I note that several of the well less important authors refuse to have anything to do with those under age.

In contrast, the Master of Ceremonies – Julie Czerneda – managed to cancel on everything except for her performance at the Masquerade. I am afraid I missed the name of the gentleman who provided the French half of the announcement for which I am truly sorry. He was lovely and extremely funny.

If you want photos from the Masquerade – this is the link to the low resolution version and has some great pictures.

AKA Ravelers Unite

just a few knitters

and of course, I misplaced the list of who was present. Functioning on little to no sleep.

But see, I really do leave the registration desk every once in a while.

Delta Centre Ville

The day went by like a blur. Spent almost the whole thing working registration. This is just the short break before the parties.

What parties? Those that start somewhere after 2100 and end by dawn at any World Con. I like the arches and had not even take the camera with me today.

sunshining through

The convention center is a multicolor riot of color just a few blocks from our hotel.

Registration, where I spent most of the day along with the two girls hit periods of quiet. Final numbers for the Con should be around 5,000 with most expected to check in tomorrow and Friday.

As it turned out, the reg system was the same as we used at LACON, so the girls went right to work.

Ms Soprano

Ms Maus

with the two of them probably helping more people than most of the other stations combined. Could also be their smiles and the fact that they are not old…..

Other than the Reno 2011 bid party, there wasn’t much of anything scheduled for this evening. I just headed back to the hotel, knit for a short while and went to sleep early feeling rather righteous from having spent 40 minutes on the treadmill this morning.

Audio

Lt Leary series – David Drake – Book 3. Valor’s Trial – Tany Huff….

Ducking out of the Kaffee Klatches – I skittered up stairs to the Ravelry meet up. Socks seemed to be the main portable knitting, but there were crocheters there as well as the odd scarf here and there. After lspeaking with  David Levine in a Kaffee Klatsch, I sat there listening to one woman talk about going to Germany this fall for the Christmas Markets. It was not too hard to figure out that this must be Kate Yule. Now I owe them the market list as soon as it is published. (and go read Bento, it is fun).

It was a fairly long day. Attempting to get to several of the parties – it turns out that the hotel has the lovely kind of elevators that require a key card to get to floor 22 necessitating the formation of a really long queue in the lobby. Once upstairs, it was so packed as to be not worth it.

Denvention Day 2 – Thursday: Hall costumes, Bids for 2010 and working the Kaffee Klatsches. And then there are the costumes on display

we scattered to different areas to help out, taking time at the end of the day to go to the opening ceremonies. Wil McCarthy did not look at ease while the representative of last years World Con in Japan was so decked out that you could hardly see him for the clothing.

Heidelberg -> Frankurt -> Philadelphia -> Denver
traveling with three teens, my MP3 player and knitting.